City Week

Singing the blues, Maria Muldaur opens the fifth annual Plaza Palomino Courtyard Concert Series on Saturday, June 1. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Plaza Palomino, located at Fort Lowell and Swan. Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 at the door. For more information call 297-9133.

See first baseman Lyle Oberbay, who is hitting over .350, slug the ball as the Tucson Sidewinders wrap up a homestand Thursday and Friday, May 30 and 31, at Tucson Electric Park, 2500 E. Ajo Way.

Boris Bally's chairs--made from recycled traffic signs--are part of Obsidian Gallery's Style and Structure 2002 exhibition running through July 6. Fifteen artists will be showing a wide variety of objects for the home including contemporary furniture from new and recycled materials, lighting, tile wall pieces, mirrors, sculpture and functional ceramics and glass. Gallery hours are Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Call 577-3598 for more information.

"Desert Night Flight" quilt by Irene M. Keating will be displayed in Tohono Chul Park's Desert After Dark exhibit running through August 25. Enjoy an opening reception on Friday, May 31 from 6 to 8 p.m. Call 742-6455 or visit www.tohonochulpark.org for more information.

Air Supply performs at the Desert Diamond Entertainment Center on Friday, May 31. The doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15, $20 and $25 and are available at the Desert Diamond Casino Box Office (393-2799) or Yoly's Music Shop. Call 1-866-DDC-WINS for show information.

Thursday 30

PLAY BALL. It's another thirsty Thursday out at Tucson Electric Park as the Tucson Sidewinders, Triple-A affiliate of the world champion Arizona Diamondbacks, battle the Fresno Grizzlies. All domestic beers and soft drinks cost a mere buck for two hours following the first pitch of the game at 6:30 p.m. The 'Winders finish off the homestand against the Grizzlies tomorrow before leaving town for an eight-game roadtrip. Tickets range from $4 to $8. For more information call 434-1021.

SOMETHING FISHY. Greater Tuna, the hilarious hit comedy about the third smallest town in Texas, where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies, is making its Tucson debut.

Tuna had its humble beginnings in a Sixth Street cabaret in Austin, Texas, in 1981. Master comedians Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and director Ed Howard were the imaginative authors who parlayed the sketch into the critically acclaimed production that has entertained audiences across the country ever since.

The 20th anniversary tour of Greater Tuna brings the show to Tucson for the first time to the Temple of Music and Art for a limited engagement through Sunday.

Although written and first performed a couple of decades ago, the residents of the play could not be more up-to-date. Contemporary politicians and the Religious Right have put the basis for the tongue-in-cheek comedy in Greater Tuna right back on the front pages of today's newspapers.

Original New York stars Joe Sears and Jaston Williams (assisted by more than 40 lightning-quick costume changes), once again portray all 20 characters: men, women, children and animals. This multi-award winning comedy is a funny, loving portrait of rural America--big hearts, small minds and all.

Showtimes are 8 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Matinees are scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. All performances are at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 South Scott Ave. Tickets are $28 to $36. For tickets, call 622-2823.

Saturday 1

TURNING TIDES. Guilt, ghosts and the haunting Carolina coast weave together in The Sound of the Sea, by Mary Caroline Rogers.

A staged reading of the play opens Cushing Street Café and Bar's new performing arts series tonight.

A featured work at the Playwrights' Kitchen Ensemble in L.A., The Sound of the Sea unfolds as Tyler is released from prison after a stint on child molestation charges. Returning to the coastal hamlet of Murrell's Inlet, the former teacher hopes to reclaim his life and his property on a homestead run by his bitter widowed stepmother, Hattie.

But past demons who works for Hattie, has joined her in a shady business deal and married Lexi, her niece and Tyler's childhood friend.

Always fragile, Lexi has slid deeper into mental illness during Tyler's absence. Now he's torn between exorcising his own guilt and helping Lexi rediscover her will to survive, as Hattie and Lem plot to destroy them both.

The sea provides a dreamlike backdrop where Tyler and Lexi share their dreams and fears. To Tyler, the shoreline is a salve, a sanctuary where he can safely remember and shed his painful past. Here he tells Lexi about his mother, while still denying the true circumstances surrounding her tragic death.

Declaring that the marks of sin and guilt may never leave us, Tyler admits that salvation may remain a splintered hope. But lasting impressions, eternal dreams and memories may still ease the troubled journey into one man's soul.

The performance begins at 7 p.m. at the Cushing Street Cafe and Bar, 198 W. Cushing St. Admission is $4. For more information, call 740-1975.

DANCE, MON. Celebrate the lively spirit of the tropics as you salsa, merengue and rumba the night away in an island paradise.

Island Hoppin' at the Tucson Museum of Art is an island-attire, tropical-themed outdoor dance in the museum's courtyard. The event is one of several downtown today to mark a Downtown Saturday Night finale.

The tropical South American Island tour features the steel drum band, Apocalypso, and Tucson's premier salsa band, Descarga.

Put on your best duds and you just might take home an award for best island attire.

Bobby and Wendy from KCMT FM radio's morning show will share MC duties for the evening and there will be loads of fun raffle prizes during the event to raise funds for summer scholarships for the museum's Children's Summer Art School.

Island hop with TMA from 7 to 11 p.m. today at 140 N. Main Ave. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased by calling the museum at 624-2333.

Other events today include Art Square, featuring fine artists and artisans in an outdoor setting and the sixth annual Poetry Crawl.

Art Square, starting at 6 p.m., features Argentinean guest artist Jorge Vergeli and his creative mixed media pieces. Artist Lynda Kay Payne's paint on metal also will be featured, and Urban Dance Theatre and Voices of Truth gospel group will perform in the event at 172 E. Broadway.

Native American Poet Laureate Ofelia Zepeda and other established and emerging poets will perform during the Tucson Poetry Crawl, which will take place at La Placita, Art Square, The Screening Room and Hotel Congress. The crawl starts at 6:30 p.m. at La Placita Village Plaza, 110 S. Church Ave.

Plenty of free parking is available for all events. For more information, call the Tucson Arts District at 624-9977.

WHAT A TRIP. Take a sip of Portugal. If you like what you taste, you can bottle it.

Capriccios restaurant is holding a tasting of Portuguese table wines. It's a great opportunity to sample the wines of a wine-producing country that the majority of us are unfamiliar with.

Mark Sands, who brought the wines into Arizona, is the night's guest.

Capriccios will provide food at a cost of $20. After you taste the wines, you'll have the opportunity to buy bottles of your favorites.

This event, from 5:30 to 7:30 tonight, is limited to the first 50 people, so reservations must be held with a credit card. For reservations and more information, call 887-2333.

Sunday 2

GOOD AFTERNOON. The Quintessential Stage bills itself as Tucson's only off-Broadway theatre, so perhaps it's not surprising that the group is tackling Light Up The Sky.

Moss Hart's name is synonymous with the golden age of American theatre. From 1929 till his death in 1961, Hart wrote or co-wrote more than 20 full-length plays, won a Pulitzer Prize, penned a successful autobiography, and directed two of the most popular musicals in Broadway history, My Fair Lady and Camelot.

Quintessential's production ofHart's Light Up The Sky is a backstage comedy about a group of New York theatre professionals who attend the opening of their new play in Boston.

Many of the characters, thinly veiled portraits of famous people in the theatre community of the time, although temperamental and eccentric, are filled with color and humor and true passion. The result is a funny and loving picture of backstage shenanigans.

A matinee is offered at 4 p.m. today. Other performances are scheduled for June 7 to 9, and June 14 to 16, with curtain time at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 4 p.m. Sunday at Muse, 516 N. Fifth Ave. Tickets are $14 general and $12 for seniors, students and military. For more information, please call 861-7344.

Monday 3

WEARABLE ART. Get the kids off to a creative start this summer. Children can make their own jewelry and create their own paintings during jewelry making and art workshops held every Monday and Tuesday. Painting lessons are Monday and jewelry making is Tuesday.

The activities take place at Sally Huss Gallery, 6544 E. Tanque Verde, in La Plaza Shoppes. Cost is $12 per child. For more information and reservations, call 326-5421.

Tuesday 4

GET OUT, WITHOUT GOING FAR. Wanna get away, but don't have the time or money?

Tucson Botanical Gardens may be your best bet--especially this time of year.

The gardens, located right in the heart of the Old Pueblo, are a five-acre collection of 15 specialty gardens including a historical garden, an herb garden, a butterfly garden, and a cactus and succulent garden.

The collection consists of more than 4,200 individual plants. Homeowners can get some great design ideas at the gardens and some good information about the variety of plants that thrive in southern Arizona.

Tucson Botanical Gardens are open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission for non-members is $5 adults, $4 seniors (62 and over), $1 children 6-11. Children 5 and under and TBG members are free. Tours, classes, group rates and picnic area are available. The gardens are located at 2150 N. Alvernon Way. For more information, call 326-9686 or visit www.tucsonbotanical.org.